It was my band's EOY concert!
It was a Saturday then. 11 Dec. I was excited because this was going to be my first concert i have ever performed. We had been rehearsing since June. Sadly, I had maths tuition class before that. My mum said it was the last lesson, so it could not be missed. My section leader was pretty pissed when I told him that. It's like I make excuses for myself to be absent all the time. No doubt he was pissed...
After the lesson, my parents drove me to school. Luckily, the band had not left the gathering spot yet! Therefore, I was late, but on time...( ok, that sounds wierd...)
Still, I got my tuba and all the stuff I needed and went down to the Cheng Yi Auditorium at the JC side of the school. It was a long walk, especially with my tuba. The JC side is all the way at the other end of the school compound. It was up the hill and down again. (Grand Duke of York...)
We got there and deposited our instruments under the stairs to the RUA (Room Under Auditorium). We were int=structed to help out the JC with whatever they needed help with. After all, we are still one big fanily...
The JC band leader had ordered abt 30-40+ benches from the canteen, which had not arrived. Therefore, we were sent to help with the benches. 2 to each bench. The canteen was a several metre walk away. We had almost 60+ people helping out with the benches. 2 main conditions had to be met. Benches must not be shaky (a leg is shorter than the other legs) and must not have some bird shit on it. Many a benches were rejected. But in the end, we still got all our 40+ benches.
We had to haul them in after that. It was tiring work. Some of us had already changed into the suits for later's performance. Poor people sitting around them must have been stunk out. The chairs on stage had to be take out then. It was done in no time at all. The counter outside was set up. The chairs and percussion were set up. Then came the practise.
The conducters had already arrived. The conducter for the junior batch, Mr Kiang, a plump but jovial and funny man, ran through the songs we were supposed to play for the concert. After that, the junior band evacuated the place to allow the seniors, the JC band rehearse. We deposited our instruments in the RUA and went all the way back to High School side for the food. (By the time we finished, it was almost dusk). There were 7 big bags of food, 10 each bag, and another 3 for conductors.
We brought the food back to the Cheng Yi Auditorium to put the JC's food there before realising we could've brought the food back to OBR (Outdoor Band Room, Hish School) first and sent a team to bring the food to JC. Therefore, there was a quarrel between the leaders of the group. Luckily, it didn't last long. The food had gotten them to stop the inseccant quarrels and focus on eating. We refuelled water at the nearby food bar and changed into our suits.
The only thing I couldn't do myself, was the tie. Just the day before, my dad had just shown me how to do it. But due to the great upheavel of events, I had forgotten how to do it. I asked a band leader, Jay to remind me again how to tie it. He showed me and tied others. I tried tying my own. I was still tying even when I had gotten out of the OBR, heading for Cheng Yi Auditorium. In the end, I gave up, going back to Jay, asking him to help me tie it. }: {
We went through warm-ups and scales once more before letting the audience in. Meanwhile, we sat at our places and waited for the MCs to introduce the band and the conducters. Then Mr Kiang got on stage. We played the songs and got off the stage. It was a rush and a hectic mess. people were rushing out in any order.
After that, we were allowed to go up to join the audience at the back. It was a very entertaining show the seniors put up. Most of the songs were pop songs and Christmas carols. In fact, it was so good, that there were many who wanted an encore piece. Sadly, they were disappointed by the MCs. Nevertheless, they played a short piece.
After all the audience have left, we were to help with the putting back of benches, chairs, stands, instruments etc. After all was done, it was a quick dismissal. Already 2300 by then, so I went directly to the car.
That's the end of that wonderful day.
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